# Calabar and Ekiti Show Fresh Merchant Spending as El Salvador Plans a Bitcoin Market

*By Bitcoin Payment Adoption Tracker • August 1, 2026*

Fresh evidence spans a recurring-use claim and mapped merchant examples in Calabar and Ekiti, a Bitcoin-payable food market scheduled in Cojutepeque, and wallet infrastructure updates relevant to transaction reliability.

## Major Adoption News

### Calabar connects a recurring-use claim to a named venue

BitcoinCalabar says that “Every day tens of sats transaction happens in calabar” and that it cannot track them all. It posts one example with the merchant pay code `chefgreensignature@blink.sv`, a BTC Map listing and a video. [^1] The linked record identifies **Chef Green Signature Local Cusine Hub** at Atekong Junction Calabar, shows Bitcoin and Lightning acceptance icons, and lists Monday–Saturday hours of 18:00–00:00. [^2]

This is the clearest current grassroots signal: a claimed recurring flow is attached to a named, discoverable local food venue. It remains self-reported and provides no transaction count or sat total.

### Ekiti adds a second merchant-specific spending example

The BitcoinEkiti post tags `#spedn`, supplies the Blink endpoint `adonsken@blink.sv`, links BTC Map merchant 30969, and says sats were being spent at **KJ Multipurpose Store** under the message “Spend sats. Support local. Build Bitcoin.” The post also includes a video. [^3] BTC Map lists the store with Bitcoin and Lightning acceptance icons and a **Contactless** marker; it provides a phone number and opening hours but no address or formal business category beyond the store name. [^4] This turns a general acceptance message into a merchant-specific spend signal, but the post gives no amount or repeat count.

### El Salvador links Bitcoin acceptance to a sports and community event

Bitcoin Berlin SV said it would join BitcoinCojute “tomorrow” for the Bitcoin Copa and invited attendees to enjoy food and drinks while paying with Bitcoin. [^5] The linked event notice schedules the tournament for 1 August 2026 at El Campito in Cojutepeque, El Salvador, with a Bitcoin Market selling food, drinks, coffee, pupusas and more. [^6] The breadth of the menu gives Bitcoin a practical event-day use case, but this is a scheduled acceptance opportunity—not evidence of completed transactions or event volume.

## Payment Infrastructure

### Public merchant endpoints are paired with map discovery

The two retail examples use a repeatable public-facing pattern: a Blink payment handle, a `#Spedn` tag, a BTC Map record and a posted spending example. The Calabar record adds a physical address and hours, while the Ekiti record adds a contactless indicator but no address. [^1][^3][^2][^4] This improves merchant discoverability and gives users a visible payment endpoint, but the evidence does not establish processor volume, active-user counts or network-wide adoption.

### Wallet security becomes a transaction-continuity issue

Coinkite said it had shipped a firmware hotfix removing the software fallback path and protecting new seeds, while warning that seeds generated before the fix require individual migration and that the full scope of the issue was not yet established. [^7] Blink separately said its non-custodial wallet was not affected, that recovery words are generated only from a phone’s secure hardware randomness, and that the app refuses to create a wallet when that randomness is unavailable. [^8] For its custodial service, Blink said customer funds are secured with multi-vendor multisig in cold storage. [^9] These are vendor statements rather than independent measurements, but they are relevant payment-infrastructure signals because key generation and safe migration determine whether users can continue holding and spending funds.

## Regulatory Landscape

No qualifying regulatory development is included. The payment-relevant material read for this period covers merchant transactions, a scheduled event market, community funding rails and wallet operations, but does not state a country-level legal-tender, payment-licensing or tax change.

## Usage Metrics

The Calabar post supplies the only explicit frequency signal, saying that daily “tens of sats” transactions occur and that the account cannot track them all; the wording is qualitative and gives neither a transaction count nor a sat total. [^1] The period also contains two merchant-specific spending examples—Chef Green in Calabar and KJ Multipurpose Store in Ekiti—and one prospective event market in Cojutepeque. [^1][^3][^6] No aggregate payment volume, merchant total, adoption rate or growth series is reported.

## Emerging Markets

- **Calabar:** A local food venue is linked to a Blink pay code, a BTC Map record, and Bitcoin/Lightning acceptance icons; the account describes additional daily sat activity that is not fully captured. [^1][^2]
- **Ekiti:** KJ Multipurpose Store is presented as a sats-spending location with a Blink endpoint, BTC Map presence and contactless acceptance. [^3][^4]
- **Cojutepeque, El Salvador:** A sports tournament is being used to introduce a Bitcoin Market covering food and beverages, including coffee and pupusas. [^6]
- **Bitcoin Ekasi community:** A diploma-class update asks supporters to fund the initiative directly on-chain or via Lightning, saying every satoshi goes to education. The post does not state a donation amount, donor count or location. [^10]

## Adoption Outlook

The period adds concrete, grassroots payment signals rather than measurable market-scale growth. Calabar contributes the strongest directional indication of routine use; Ekiti adds a second merchant-level spending example with contactless infrastructure; and Cojutepeque broadens the setting to event-led acceptance across multiple food and beverage categories. The first two are posted as transaction examples, while the El Salvador case remains prospective. [^1][^3][^5][^6]

Blink handles, `#Spedn` tags and BTC Map records make the payment endpoints concrete, but the absence of volume and adoption-rate data prevents a quantitative viability judgment. At the same time, the wallet-security update leaves a practical constraint: Coinkite says a hotfix does not repair previously generated seeds, while Blink is positioning its key-generation and custody model as unaffected. [^7][^8][^9]

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### Sources

[^1]: [𝕏 post by @BitcoinCalabar](https://x.com/BitcoinCalabar/status/2083104221105185102)
[^2]: [Chef Green Signature Local Cusine Hub - BTC Map](http://btcmap.org/merchant/25058)
[^3]: [𝕏 post by @BitcoinEkiti](https://x.com/BitcoinEkiti/status/2083285287778590794)
[^4]: [KJ Mulitipurpose Store - BTC Map](https://btcmap.org/merchant/30969)
[^5]: [𝕏 post by @BitcoinBerlinSV](https://x.com/BitcoinBerlinSV/status/2083261523862921522)
[^6]: [𝕏 post by @BitcoinCojute](https://x.com/BitcoinCojute/status/2073896455434068384)
[^7]: [𝕏 article by @nvk](https://x.com/i/article/2083213729995325440)
[^8]: [𝕏 post by @blinkbtc](https://x.com/blinkbtc/status/2083234306177089703)
[^9]: [𝕏 post by @blinkbtc](https://x.com/blinkbtc/status/2083126289792184734)
[^10]: [𝕏 post by @BitcoinEkasi](https://x.com/BitcoinEkasi/status/2083221149807198574)